Method of determining the direction of space-telegraph signals.



J. S. STONE.

METHOD OF DETERMINING THE DIRECTION OF SPACE TELEGRAPH SIGNALS.

(Application fllod Jun. 88, I901.) (No Model.)

m. 7|s,|34. Patented Dec. I6, I902.

i v emanate from elevated r which the waves are developed by producing lbeen impracticable; in the o tor system of space telegraphy to determine UNITED STATES ,v': skwy am.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN STONE STONE, 0F BOSTON,

E. WHIOHER, ALEXANDER P. TRUSTEES.

p i i A 1 J a: i r "-f METHOD OF DETERMINING THE DIRECTlONiDF SPACE-TELEGRAPH SIGNALS. l srncmcanon forming art of Letters Patent No. v1o,1s4, was December 1c, 1902. i

mssacnusnrraassxesoa T0 Louis BROWNE, AND

B'RAINERD T. JUDKINS,

mime tiled January as, 1001. sum No. uses." on model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Joan, Srosn Smith, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suflolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Determinin g the Direction of Space-Telegraph Signals, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to the art of signaling electrically between stations not conneoted by a conducting-wire, and more particularly to the system of such signaling in which the signals are transmitted by means of unguided electromagnetic waves emanab ing from elevated conductors.

Systems of signaling electrically between stations not connected by a conducting-wire have been termed by some systems of space telegraphy and I shall hereinafter so designate them. The particular system of space telegraphy in which the electromagnetic waves conductors and in feleotrio vibrations in said elevated conductors shall hereinafter for convenience be referred toas the elevated-conductor system of space t'elegraphy.

."-. -Heretofore, so far as I am aware, it has elevated-conduc- 'at 'the receiving-station the bearing of the transmitting-station by observing the direction of motion of the electromagnetic signal- -waves at the receiving-station;

The object of the present invention is to supply a method whereby in an elevated-con- .ductor system of space telegraphy the hearing or direction of the transmitting-station from the receivin -station maybe determined by observing at the receiving-station the direction of motion of the electromagnetic waves which emanate from the transmitting-station. By enabling an operator at a receivin g-station to accurately determine the bearings of the transmitting-station fromwhioh signa s are being received the present invention condnctor system A. 3 u e .each ship may tion of a train pf elec able electric translating device,

more particularly in its application to the art or science of navigation.

By this invention ships may be equipped with apparat' s whereby the s ips whep'apf preaching each other at sea may receive warn-1; ing of their proximity to one another" and determine the bearing of the other, as well as such These signals are not interfered with bycii" matic conditions which render,qu 6e. or even misleading, the. signals atfiirjesent most commonly employed by navigator-m .J

Moreover, by this invention ships andehore stations may be equipped with" apparatus whereby the ships whenap poaching land may receive warning of the r proximity to the shore stations, may communicate with the i shore station, and may determine the identity; and bearing of the latter, and'thereby -acourately deduce their position on 3110 chart, ye even under such unfavorable con itions or a weather as would render lights in his; foz-signalsnseless or misleadiii'gE- For the purpose of etermininglthe direci' m ers re-11s ceive the energy of e avesin seyeral cou j- 1- ductors which may or may'not be so connect-,1 ed as to form parts of a closed network. llhq, L energyoftheelectroniagneticwavesmanifests itself in these coniinctors by electric tions. I convey these oscillations toa suitf and change the position of the several conductors relative to the direction of motion of the electromag=" netic waves till a position is found at which the combined efiect upon the translatiug'de vice of the several oscillations is nil."

Before proceeding toa description in detail of the apparatus employed it is best to describe some of the facts upon which the operation of the invention depends.

In an elevated-conductor system of space telegraphy the electromagnetic signal-waves emanating from the elevated conductor at the transmitting-station spread out in concentric 5 circles with a velocity of 3x10 centimeters other iniormationas :1

- 416" p 7" 'WW" 1w"" ?pf'f1 t i I 1 1. I

H r 716,184 push own. It, therefore, for example, the best understood if we have reference to the incy of vibrations be 2 X 10 iper second, accompanying drawings. ugth of the waves will be fteen hnn- Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 are diagrams illuscentimeters, and two similar elevated trating four difierent arrangements of the apctors placed seven hundred and fifty paratus at the receiving-station. 7e neters apart and in the line of motion In the drawings the same letters refer to ielectromagnetic waves will receive the -similar parts of the a parat-us. l at a difference of phase of half a pe- VandV'ar-e vertica iy elevated conductors. ir one hundred and eighty degrees. If I and I are the two arms of an inductionaves be symmetrical-es, for example; balance, to be hereinafter more fully de- 7 5 y be simple harmonic in character or of scribed. irm Asin.p t A,sin. 8 'pt A,sin.5 pt, I is the third element of the above-mene the several As are constants repretionedinduction-balance. ng the amplitudes of the several simple O and O are condensers. onic components of .the train of waves K is a coherer. 8c 21: times the'freqnencyof the funda- B is a battery. al, and t represents the *time. Theelec- R is a relay. )BGiliB-tlOllB developed in the two vertical E is an earth connection. will .be substantially equal and opposite In the figures the two similar vertical wires gn, and if these oscillations beconveyed V and V are separated',by a distance less 85 common electric translating device they than the wave length of th'eelectromagneticneutralize each others effects and will wave signal, the energy of which they arciniperate the translating device. tended to receive, and they are, moreover, so however, the two elevated conductors arranged that they may be rotated about the ribed above be moved out of the line of vertical axis a a. ion of the electromagnetic waves, though The devices designated by I, I, and I in retaining their separation of seven hun- Figs. 1 and 2, by I I and the bridging-circuit l and fifty centimeters, the electric oscil- C K in Fig. 3, and by C, C, and K in Fig. 4 ms induced in them will not be equal and are well-known forms of induction-balances,- osite, and their combined action upon the of whichthe branch 0 E and the branch or 95 ,mon electric translating device will not circuit including the receiver are rendered n'l. There is, therefore, for these two eleconjugate. The manner in which the induced conductors but one position relative to tion-balauces in these figures are constructed direction of motion of the electromagnetic and adjusted is well known, but for perspicres at which the electric oscillations inuity shall be outlined here. The coils I and too :ed in them are equal and opposite in phase I in'Figs. 1 and 2 are spiraled in opposite dii at which the common translating device rections and are constructed with an equal i not be operated. Again, if the two siminumber of turns in each helix, provided the elevated conductors be separated at any electrical constants of the two vertical wires tance less than half the wave length of the or the electrical constant of the two vertical r05 ctromagnetic waves careful consideration parts of the elevated conductors are equal. 1 show that there is no position in which The coil 1 is so placed symmetrically relaelectrical oscillations induced in the two tive to the coil I and I that the .hnutual in iductors will be both equal and opposite; ductances between it and the other two coils t it is a fact that if the two similar vertical are equal. no nductors be placed in a plane normalto the In Fig. 8 I and I are construetedwith equal #ection of motion of the electromagnetic resistances or inductances if the electromag- LVBS the electric oscillations induced in them netic constants of the two vertical conductors il be equal and in the same phase. In order are equal, and in Fig. 4 C and C are condens at the combined efiect of the oscillations ers of equal capacities. r am the'two similar elevated cond uctcrsupon The induction-balances are so adjusted that e electric translating device shall be nil, the branch 0 Bend the branch containing r" men the two conductors are in a plane normal the coherer K are conjugate, and the electrothe direction of motion of the electromagmagnetic constants of the two vertical conatic waves certain devices may be employed dnctors'V V being equal no electromotive no hich will hereinafter be described. By such force will be developed i the branch containavices the phases of the electric oscillation ing the coherer when the oscillatory electroiduced in the two elevated conductors are motive forces induced in the two vertical parated by one hundred and eightydegrees wires are equal in phase and amplitude, store the oscillations are conveyed to the whereas if, on the contrary, the oscillatory 125 some translating device or the equivalent electromotive forces induced in the vertical I this is accomplished. .conductors differ in phase or amplitude, or Embodiment of the foregoing principles in both, oscillatory electromotive forceswill device to determine the direction of motion thereby be developed in the branch containf a train of electromagnetic waves may be ing the coherer. 1 0

Considering now specifically the inductionbalance shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 of the drawings we find that if two similar wires V V are in a plane normal to the directionot motion of the waves equal potentials will'be imparted to the two conductors, and since the two coils I and I are also similar the conductors V I E and V IE will have equal poten-i tials imparted to them and similar currents developed in them; but the coils I and I are so wound and connected as to oppose each other in their efiect upon I", and since I is symmetrically placed with respect to I and I the efiect of these two coils upon I will be m'l. This is easily seen to be the case, as regards the magnetic induction, and careful consideration will show tbatwith the symmetrical disposition of the coil 1, relative to I and I the latter may be so connected to their respective vertical conductors and the earth that the potentials in I and I may not produce difierences of potential, and therefore currents in the coil 1', but at most merely a fluctuation of the potential of the system I R B K as a whole, which can have no efiect upon the'receiving device. Again, when the electricinduction is permitted to produce difierences of potential in the coil 1', the terminals of that coil may always be taken at a point where the induced potentials balance.

So far we have considered the case of a balance in Figs. 1 and 2.

In the case of a balance in Fig. 3 the potentials imparted to the conductors V V are equal, and since the coils I and I have equal inductances and resistances and the condensers C and C are of equal capacity the only result of the potentials imparted to the vertical conductors V V' is to vary the potential of the receiving device and its circuit K BR as a whole. Similarly when equal potentials are imparted to the two elevated conductors in 'Fig. 4 the result is merely to changethe potential of the circuit K B R as a whole.'

Mere changes of potential of the receivercircuit without the production of ditterences of poteutia1,-and consequently without the production of currents in the receiver-circuit, can not operate the receiver.

From what has heretofore been said it will be apparent that if the elevated systems be so rotated about the vertical axis a a. that the two vertical wires V V are in a plane normal to the direction of motion of the electromagnetic field the oscillatory electromotive forces induced in the vertical conductors V V will be equal both in phase and amplitude, and therefore the coherer-circnit will have no oscillations developed in it and the coherer K will not be operated, whereas if the two vertical conductors be rotated to any other position relative to the direction of motion of the electromagnetic field the os cillatory electromotive forces induced it the two vertical conductors will dltfer it phase, and oscillatory electromotive force: will be developed in the coherer-circuit, dill to the difference between the two oscilla tions in the two yertical wires, and these 05 cillations will operate the coherer, which il turn operates the relay R in the usual man ner. In themethod of space telegraphy mos commonly employed at present the operatiol of the relay R sets in motion what is termet a decoherer, which tends to restore thl coherer to its normal condition of high re sistance. Such usual parts of the apparatu are not shown in the drawings, but may b employed in connection with the apparatu:

- there shown and in the usual way. I may,'how

ever, em ploy any suitable electric translatin device-such, for instance, as a static tele phqne-receiver-iu place of the coherer, a shown in Fig. 2, where' 0 represents a con denser-telephone.

'In determining thc'direction of motion 0 the electromagnetic field by my apparatn the position of the vertical conductors rela tive to the direction of motion of the electro magnetic waves is altered till a position i found at which the electromagnetic field fail to develop electric oscillations in the re ceiver-circuit. When this position is found the direction of motion of the electromagneti waves is determined by the principles herein before given. I need, obviously, not limi myself to two vertical conductors,bnt ma; employ any :number of conductors greats than one and may group and connect the: in a variety of ways. When two or more vertical conductors ar grouped and connected together, as describe and shown, they form a single conductor, t whichthe verticalponductors are parts.

What I claim as my invention is- The, method of determining the direction c motion ot a train of electromagnetic wave: which consists in receiving the energy of th waves in conductors or parts of a conductoi in conveying the electric oscillations thereb produced in the several conductors or part of a conductor to a suitable electric transla ing device, and in changing the positions I the conductors or parts of a conductor rel: tively to the direction of motion of the 616i tromagnetic waves till a position is found i which the combined efiect upon the tram lating devices of the, several electric oscilll tions conveyed to it by the conductors or pari of conductors is nil.

JOHN STONE STONE. In presence of ALEX. P. BROWNE, ELLnu B. TOMLINSON. 

